Dawes, Francis

Sacred to the memory of LADY FRANCIS DAWES, Wife of Sir William Dawes, Baronet, Professor of Theology and Master of this College: Daughter of Sir Thomas Darcy, lately of Braxted Lodge in the County of Essex, Baronet. She died on the 22nd day of December in the Year of Our Lord 1705, aged 29 years; and, beneath the Altar itself she rests most peacefully in the hope of a happy Resurrection.

A woman worthy, if one ever was, to rest within the Holy Sanctuary of the College: While she lived, a glory and ornament to the College, both an example to the gownsmen and their delight: For you, gownsmen, I call to witness how saintly and truly Christian she was in her conduct; and no less on account of her unfeigned piety towards God, and her unceasing care to earn the gratitude of men, than of the excellent endowment of her mind, the elegant form of her body, and a certain sweetness, passing belief, of mien and carriage, she was in all respects admirable and most dear to you.   She had assiduously shaped her whole life by the rules of Divine Philosophy, without reserve, chaste, peaceable, serene, obedient, filled with piety and good works, severe and in no way dissimulating: Pride, anger, jealousy. malice were utterly foreign to her who overflowed with humility, mildness, benevolence and charity: Equal to good fortune, stronger than adversity, most patient in grief and sickness, always constant in herself, the same no less in death than in life: Tranquil, placid, serene, always imbued with heavenly joy, ever breathing the air of a heavenly fellowship.   A wife (once the source of joys and now of tears) who was a most perspicuous pattern of love and of every wifely duty: A mother most full of loving affection for her children, and yet most prudent: A mistress of her household: A friend, an acquaintance, most provident, affectionate and kindly: To all, so far as in her lay, most beneficent: To all, singularly precious: To all, a most grievous loss, but above all to her grief-stricken husband who erected this monument to his undying love.   She bore seven children, William, Francis, William, Elizabeth, Jane, D'Arcy, Thomas: of these the four last outlived her death, but alas! by an untimely fate, within a mere five months, Thomas was to be snatched away. [Translation from notice on monument, adapted.]